Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk Read Free Book Online Page B

man said. ‘‘You and I are going to play again. I am going to make a picture of a man, and he is a bad man. You are going to be strong and brave. You are going to make the bad man fall down.’’
     
     
    ‘‘Like the bad little boy?’’
     
     
    ‘‘Just like the bad little boy. This time you are going to pretend to be a girl when you make the bad man fall down.’’ The Snake man held out a picture of a lady with short dark hair and pretty green-colored eyes. She was wearing a dress and standing next to a man who was a little bit taller than her, and older than her, but looked a lot like her. He was wearing a dark suit and tie and wasn’t smiling.
     
     
    ‘‘Okay,’’ Cody said, even though he didn’t want to be a girl.
     
     
    ‘‘Can you see what her magic is?’’ Snake man asked.
     
     
    Cody took the picture and held it in both his hands. He looked at it for a really long time. It was hard to see the magic inside of people in pictures. It was much easier to see the magic inside of people when he was close to them. But Cody could do it. He had done it before. It was just hard.
     
     
    He looked at the smiling girl for a long time. Looked at her until her outside went away and all that was left was her inside.
     
     
    ‘‘Oh,’’ he said. ‘‘Pretty.’’
     
     
    ‘‘Good,’’ Snake man said. ‘‘Can you pretend to be just like her?’’
     
     
    Cody nodded. ‘‘Easy, easy. Like me.’’
     
     
    The Snake man made a surprised sound. ‘‘Are you sure? Look at her again, Cody. Make sure you can do this just right.’’
     
     
    Cody looked up at Snake man. He knew he could be just like the girl because she was like him. Not on the outside, but on the inside, where the magic was. ‘‘I can do it,’’ Cody said.
     
     
    The Snake man smiled. ‘‘That’s good. I’m counting on you to do your best. Kitten is too.’’ Snake man reached down and pulled the lid off the little box.
     
     
    Cody smiled. He could really feel the magic now. It made him think of water, clean and cool and wet; it made him think of sunshine, and he missed sunshine. He wanted to touch the magic.
     
     
    No, the older, smarter part of him said. It is wrong. Don’t do this for him.
     
     
    ‘‘Do it for Kitten,’’ Cody said out loud.
     
     
    ‘‘That’s right,’’ Snake man said, even though Cody hadn’t been talking to him. ‘‘Do this so Kitten can be your friend.’’
     
     
    Cody licked his lips and looked at Kitten in the Snake man’s hand. He could do this. It was right to help a friend.
     
     
    He dropped the picture of the lady on the floor and sat down in front of the chair. He reached out and dipped his fingers into the box. His fingertips brushed across three cool metal circles that felt like big coins. It wasn’t the box that held the magic, it was the coins.
     
     
    But oh, the magic was wonderful. It was cool and soft and thicker than water. It filled him up, and he liked it. The older, smarter part of him reached out for him, and he reached back and he could see all the wonderfulness of the magic in his hand and had all the words he needed to describe it. He could make the magic do anything he wanted it to do.
     
     
    ‘‘Remember the girl, Cody. Make the magic look like her magic,’’ the Snake man said.
     
     
    Cody could do that. He could pretend he was the girl. It would be easy. He breathed in the magic, and memories of his life before this place came back to him. Yes, he was good with magic. He was very good. He was an artist—a Hand. He had infused art with magic and he had made a lot of money. But he had lost a lot of money and gone in debt with the wrong people.
     
     
    To pay back those debts, he had forged magical signatures on Offloads for them. Untraceable signatures. He was so good at it that he started making money. A lot more money than he’d ever made off his art.
     
     
    And he had made the wrong people angry.
     
     
    But right now